It seems city and university officials are constantly trying to prevent bad things from happening, and while their well-intentioned efforts are often understandable, there are some aspects of life that boil down to personal responsibility.

Responsible drinking on a 21st birthday or any day of the week is one of those aspects.

Still, on Tuesday, East Lansing's Responsible Hospitality Council passed new management policies to curb 21st birthday accidents.

The 16 members of the council say they hope to avoid tragedies such as what happened to Bradley McCue in 1998. The MSU student died after consuming 24 shots on his 21st birthday.

But area bars and restaurants have successfully curbed such catastrophes during the past five years. It's questionable how new policies of these restraints hope to accomplish that feat any better then they have since the 1998 tragedy.

The new 21st birthday rules include:

• Employees carding and learning the ages of the birthday person and the entire group celebrating with him or her, upon their admittance into the establishment.

• Employees establishing a designated driver and offering him or her free soft drinks.

• The birthday group must get its drinks from one server only.

• Friends of the celebrant will not be allowed to order drinks at the bar and the server is to be aware of people joining the birthday group.

• All workers are to be aware of the group and communicate. If anyone is visibly intoxicated, they should be asked to leave.

• Establishments are not to offer free or discounted drinks.

• Member establishments are to contact one another via telephone upon the groups exit from a given bar or restaurant.

Now, it should be noted that many of these policies have been in effect at most of the Responsible Hospitality Council member establishments in one form or another for years. But Tuesday's announcement of the linked effort is troubling.

It is not the job of local leaders to play parent to MSU's 44,000-strong student body and other 20-somethings in the area.

This is a community of legal adults, both residents and students alike.

Local officials would do the community a better service if they stopped trying to play baby sitter and prevent students from enjoying certain activities and worked with legal members of our community to promote and educate them on the importance of responsible drinking.

Of course, working with students is a much more difficult job as the population turns over every four or five years. It's always easier to implement new polices because it can be expected they will be the understood norm within a couple of academic seasons.

It's safe to say that no one in this community wants to experience another tragedy such as the one in 1998, but there are more constructive ways to carry out that effort.